The Fourth Horseman (19 page)

Chapter
Fifteen

Gareth

“A
merry chase you’ve led us on, my lord,” Dai said, his grin a
mile wide.

Llelo and Dai bounced up and down before
them, accompanied by a third boy, who towered above them. It was
Prior Rhys’s servant, Tomos, to whom Gareth had never spoken more
than a few words. Hardly older than the boys, he was as thin as a
flag pole and dressed in a monk’s robe. His brow was furrowed in
concern.

Not so Dai and Llelo.

Gareth studied the boys, his hands on his
hips. “Llelo. Dai. It’s nice to see you. You, too, Brother
Tomos.”

Tomos nodded his head. “My lord.”

“
What are you doing here?”
Gwen said.

“
Not that we aren’t pleased
to see you whole and well,” Gareth said, softening Gwen’s stance,
“but you were supposed to stay in the camp.”

The boys looked at each other, and then Dai
answered for his brother, as he often did, even though he was the
younger of the two. “We’re sorry we disobeyed, but we knew we had
to find you.”

Gareth’s eyes narrowed. “Why would you be
looking for us?”

“
It is my fault entirely,”
Tomos said.

“
Llelo thought something
might be wrong,” Dai said. “He was almost in tears just thinking
about what might have happened to you.”

Llelo shoved at his little brother’s
shoulder. “Shut it, Dai. That’s not it at all. It’s the fault of
that guard on duty, Ieuan. Tomos came with a message from Prior
Rhys, which he said was important. He had already tried to find
Evan, Gruffydd, or the princes, but they were nowhere to be
seen.”

Tomos nodded. “They weren’t in their rooms
or in the hall.”

Gareth made a growling noise low in his
throat. “Ieuan was supposed to refer anyone who needed me to
Evan.”

“
We know,” Llelo said. “Dai
and I overheard you this morning. But Ieuan did nothing! He didn’t
even try to find you!”

“
What was the message?”
Gwen said.

Tomos cleared his throat. “Prior Rhys asked
that you come to him at Newcastle.”

“
Did he say why?” Gwen
said.

“
He didn’t tell me, though
I asked.” Tomos shook his head. “I was to find you and bring you as
soon as I could. When Ieuan didn’t know where you were, I would
have returned to Newcastle then and there, but the boys convinced
me that you might be in danger.”

“
What of the other men? Did
you try to speak to someone else?” Gwen said.

Tomos cleared his throat. “The boys seemed
to think your mission required secrecy. I see my mistake now, but
they convinced me that we’d be better off searching for you on our
own.”

“
Nobody listens to boys.”
Dai’s lower lip stuck out.

Gareth rubbed at his chin. “So you took
matters into your own hands.”

Dai said, “We did the right thing, didn’t
we?”

“
I didn’t know what else to
do but to stay with them,” Tomos said, continuing his apology. “I
feared they would try to find you whether I came with them or
not.”

Gareth turned to his wife. “There’s no point
in speculating what Prior Rhys wanted. We should simply return to
the castle.”

“
What about Ieuan?” Dai
said.

“
I will deal with him when
I see him.” Gareth checked the sky. “We’ve been gone
all day
. I don’t
understand what’s happening here.”

“
How did you get here?”
Gwen said.

“
Tomos rode. We ran,” Dai
said.

Gareth laughed and ruffled his hair, no more
able to stay angry at the boys than Gwen.

“
Do you know Ieuan well?
Could he be some kind of traitor, too?” Gwen said, as Gareth
boosted her into her saddle. “Or a spy?”

“
He’s been attached to
Prince Rhun’s company since last autumn.” Gareth adjusted Gwen’s
foot in her stirrup. “It was foolish of me not to have been on the
lookout for treachery in our own camp. I just don’t know what else
I could have done to avert it.”

“
I’ve felt lost since we
entered Newcastle,” Gwen said. “I think our problem is simply that
we’re in England.”

“
Why do you say that?”
Llelo said.

“
The rules aren’t the
same,” Gwen said, “and I don’t just mean that our laws are
different from the ones the people live by here. If David had been
murdered at Aber, we know exactly what would have happened: King
Owain would have turned to Hywel, who would have turned to Gareth.
We would have questioned everyone in the castle and systematically
chipped away at the lies to get to the truth. But here … ever since
yesterday morning, we’ve been fumbling about in the dark, with no
authority, no ability to question anyone properly, and yet we’re
still involved with spies and multiple murders. It feels all
wrong.”

Gareth patted her leg. “I fear it’s going to
get worse before it gets better. I can send you home if you would
prefer it.”

Gwen wrinkled her nose at him. “And leave
you to settle this yourself? I don’t think so.”

“
It’s a genuine offer.”
Gareth tossed Llelo up to ride behind Gwen, mounted his horse, and
pulled Dai up behind him. “I would feel better if you were home,
but I’m concerned about you getting there.”

“
Which is why you aren’t
going to send me away,” Gwen said.

“
If he sent you, he’d
probably send us too,” Llelo said from behind her. “We don’t want
to go either.”

Gwen put out a hand to Gareth. “Alard could
be watching us right now.”

“
I don’t think so,” Gareth
said. “He heard something, or sensed someone approaching, and
either met them or fled from them. I have the feeling that in his
mind, the farmhouse has served its purpose. Besides which, I don’t
find the idea that Alard is spying on us as worrisome as I might
have when we woke up this morning. He wants something from us, and
as long as we appear to be doing as he asks—”

“—
though not because he
asked it,” Gwen said.

“—
then we’re safe from
him,” Gareth said. “In fact, I would be more surprised if he didn’t
find a way to keep an eye on us than if he did. He can’t ask
questions himself at this point, and it’s his name, not ours, that
needs clearing.”

“
What about the safety of
Prince Henry?” Gwen said.

“
Prince Henry is a concern,
but what happens to him is almost entirely out of our hands,”
Gareth said. “If his mother and Earl Robert don’t have him well
protected, they’re fools.”

“
You already thought she
was foolish for allowing him to come to England in the first
place,” Gwen said.

“
True, though for all that
she’s his mother, it might not have been entirely up to her.”
Gareth grinned at the trio of young boys with them: strong-willed
sons were rather thick on the ground at present.

They’d come out of the wood on its western
side and followed the trail the boys had taken from the camp.
Reversing their steps, they now approached the Lyme Brook at a
point almost equidistant between their encampment and the castle.
Gareth stopped at the ford they would need to cross to return to
the castle. “Tomos, I need you to escort the boys back to
camp.”

“
But sir! I must see to
Prior Rhys!” Tomos said.

“
Not today.” Gareth said,
putting as much authority as he could into his voice. He poked
Dai’s leg. “This is where you get off, boys.”

Llelo and Dai slid to the ground.

“
What? No complaints?” Gwen
said.

Dai shook his head. “You’re going to the
castle. I don’t want to enter there. We might never get out
again.”

“
And why would that be?”
Gareth said.

“
Too many Saxons,” Llelo
said.

Gareth laughed. “I can’t disagree. Be off
with you, then.”

The boys took off running, but Tomos still
hesitated. “My lord—”

Gwen leaned in. “Thank you for taking them
under your wing when we couldn’t—and for listening to them. I would
feel better if you stayed with them.”

Tomos swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing up
and down. “My duty is to my master.”

“
We will see to him,”
Gareth said. “I want you out of harm’s way.”

Tomos bowed his head. “Yes, my lord.” He
spurred his horse after Llelo and Dai.

Once Gareth and Gwen were sure the boys were
well on their way, they trotted their horses across the ford and
turned their heads towards Newcastle. As they approached the
gateway, the sun low in the sky behind them, Gareth found himself a
little ahead of Gwen. She’d slowed, and he pulled up to wait for
her to come abreast. “I feel as reluctant as those boys,” she
said.

“
You could have gone back
to the camp with them,” Gareth said. “You could go now.”

“
And wish away the evening
waiting for you to return?” Gwen said. “Anything I face in there is
better than that.”

“
We’ll see if you still
think so by the time the sun sets,” Gareth said. “At least we have
some news for Hywel.”

“
I’m glad we heard Alard’s
side of the story,” Gwen said, “though it doesn’t make me trust
these Normans any more than I did before.”

Gareth laughed. “You didn’t trust them at
all before.” He reached out and squeezed her hand.

They passed under the gatehouse. Gruffydd
had been keeping an eye out for them, because he came to meet them
as they reined in. “Thanks be to God, you’re here.”

“
We feared something was
wrong. What is it?” Gareth tossed his reins to the stable boy who
waited for them and dropped to the ground. He caught Gwen as she
dismounted.

“
Prior Rhys and Mari have
disappeared,” Gruffydd said.

Gareth’s expression darkened while the blood
drained from Gwen’s face. Gareth pulled her to him in a brief hug.
“We’ll find them. Don’t worry.”

His words of comfort could only be a
kindness. She couldn’t help but worry and he knew it, but she came
with him up the steps to the keep, limping a little on her wounded
ankle.

“
This way.” Gruffydd eyed
Gareth as they crossed the anteroom. “What happened to
you?”

“
It’s a long story,” Gareth
said. “Who saw them last and at what time?”

“
A maid brought Prior Rhys
a meal some time after noon,” Gruffydd said, “but no one has seen
them since.”

“
That must have been about
the time he sent a message to you, Gareth,” Gwen said.

Gruffydd knocked on a door and entered at
Hywel’s command. They found themselves in a room Gareth hadn’t seen
before, not that he’d spent very much time in Newcastle so far. It
was furnished with a table and several spindle chairs but little
else. No fire burned in the grate, and the shutter was open to the
eastern sky. They had no more than an hour until sunset.

At their entrance, Hywel, who’d been looking
out the window, turned to face them. “At last. We were just about
to send out a search party for you.”

“
We’re safe,” Gareth said.
“What has happened to Prior Rhys and Mari?”

“
We don’t know,” Rhun said,
rising from one of the chairs. “The maid reports that when she
brought him a tray of food, the prior was sitting up in bed, awake,
with Mari beside him. Nobody has seen either of them since
then.”

“
Could this have something
to do with Alard?”

Gareth glanced towards the voice. Sir Amaury
leaned against the wall in the corner of the room.

“
How could it?” Gwen
said.

“
Prince Hywel has informed
me of Prior Rhys’s former identity as one of the horsemen,” Amaury
said. “Perhaps he went to meet Alard?”

“
Alard may have contacted
Prior Rhys,” Gareth said, “but I find it unlikely that Alard
abducted them. If they went with him, they did so of their own
accord.”

“
How would you know that?”
Amaury took a step forward.

“
Because of the hour,”
Gareth said. “When did the maid say she brought the
tray?”

“
All she remembered was
that the bell had rung for
sext
some time before, but not for
none
,” Prince Rhun said, referring to
the mid-afternoon toll of the chapel bell, which at the friary
would have called the monks to prayer.

Gwen tugged on Gareth’s sleeve and spoke in
Welsh. “We were at the farmhouse by then, and likely, so was
Alard.”

“
You went to the
farmhouse?” Hywel said, in the same language. “The horsemen’s
farmhouse?”

Gareth nodded. “Gwen told me of it, and she
and I decided that we would find it this morning.”

Amaury joined their little circle, his brow
furrowed. “What are you saying? Speak French so I can
understand!”

Gareth pursed his lips, sorry that he had
angered Amaury. He’d never seen the Norman knight so worked up.
“Gwen and I went looking for Alard today. Instead, Alard found
us.”

“
You spoke to him? What did
he say?” Amaury said.

“
A great deal,” Gareth
said. “He insists that while he did kill David, it was because
David tried to murder him. He also claims to still be loyal to
Maud.”

“
He would say that,” Prince
Hywel said.